Microsoft has detailed some of its new policies to improve the Windows Phone Marketplace, and this one, about possibly sexual content, stood out to me: "We think the right solution is (a) to be transparent about what's acceptable and (b) to show the right merchandise to the right customer in the right place. Our content policies are clearly spelled out: we don't allow apps containing 'sexually suggestive or provocative' images or content. What we do permit is the kind of content you occasionally see on prime-time TV or the pages of a magazine's swimsuit issue." This is one of my major issues with application stores: American values are archaic and puritan compared to where I'm from, but the application stores we use are still subject to them. I wonder if two kissing men are considered to be "sexually suggestive", "provocative", "racy", or "inappropriate" by American standards.

In most countries, freedom of speech has lower protection than in the US. European countries for example often censor political speech. In many parts of Asia and South America, press freedom is additionally suffering from restrictions. And don't get me started on Africa.

Most other countries, perhaps. He said the U.S. was unique, meaning no other country enjoys the same freedom of speech, which is patently untrue. The U.S. has a long tradition for state censorship (Hays code and McCarthyism, for instance), and ranks poorly on press freedom at the moment. But as long as people are living in a nationalist delusion of being #1 by default, not much will be done about that, of course.